Diary of a Somebody

Critics Review

• Glorious. I will be astonished if I read a more original, more inventive or funnier novel this year.

  Adam Kay

• Nobody must find out about this unique gem, because I’m giving it to EVERYONE

  Dawn French

• Achingly funny. Without doubt it should win next year’s Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for the best comic novel, even if my own novel is in contention as well

  Jonathan Coe

• If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston

  Richard Osman

• Not since Victoria Wood has a writer squeezed so much hilarity from a biscuit.

  The Oldie

• How do I laugh at thee? Let me count the ways . . . If you like sub-Carry On puns, clever parodies of famous poems and Wittgensteinian meditations on language, you’ll love it

  Mail on Sunday

• The midlife answer to Adrian Mole? It’s a big comparison to make, in comic novel terms, but Brian Bilston – parodist and ‘poet laureate of Twitter’- is worthy . . . Laugh. Cry. Cringe.

  Stella Magazine, Sunday Telegraph

• He has a knack for playing with language but his poems are accessible, witty and touching . . . In fact I rather regretted reading it over just a couple of days – it would have been better to take longer and saver it.

  The Scotsman Magazine

• A welcome reminder of the joy to be had when you put yourself in the hands of someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative . . . Funny and ingenious

  The Times

• In a similar way to Morrissey and John Cooper Clarke, [Bilston] has the ability to make the mundane both funny and beautiful – whether that’s taking out the bins or procrastinating on Twitter . . . A must-read for anyone who is a fan of wordplay, puns, The Smiths and custard creams.

  Irish News

• The English comic novel, whose death this year was announced prematurely, is actually alive, well and in the safe hands of Brian Bilston

  Jonathan Coe

• Highly original, genuinely funny and clever, with a gentle humanity in between the lines. Brian Bilston should be Poet Laureate

  John O'Farrell

• Bilston is the greatest English anti-hero of our time. His poems have delighted people on Twitter for several years, and now he’s treated us to this brilliant novel . . . This book has everything you want from a comic novel . . . Brian Bilston is real. And I love him

  Spectator

• The pseudonymous Brian Bilston turns the base metal of comic verse into gold . . . Imagine a mash-up of John Cooper Clarke, Ed Reardon’s Week and James Joyce, and you’re about halfway there . . . Bilston is a magician with words . . . Read this novel in short bursts, pausing to savour its individual brilliancies

  Guardian

• Brian Bilston is bringing poetry to the masses . . . topical, witty, thoughtful

  Irish Times

• Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times, a wordsmith who cares deeply about the impact his language makes as it dances before our eyes

  Ian McMillan

• One of the funniest novels in years . . . It also has genuine heart – and scores of poems so witty and accomplished that, in the real world, their author would surely be as famous as, well . . . I predict that Brian Bilston will soon be

  Reader's Digest

• Part John Cooper Clarke, part Frank Sidebottom . . . brilliant

  Esquire

• Bilston is no stranger to crafting cleverly composed poetry

  Huffington Post

• Word play, laugh-out-loud poems and the deft skewering of office life are part of the fun in this brilliant comic debut.

  Sunday Express

• In 1892, George and Weedon Grossmith published The Diary of a Nobody, now a classic of comic writing. In 1978, Christopher Matthew updated the idea. Now Brian Bilston brings us another Diary of a Somebody and it’s as fun as its predecessors.

  Daily Express

• This fun, charming novel is a fine showcase for Bilston’s irrepressible creativity . . . It’s all done with wit, playfulness and a sense of amused wonder at the possibilities and idiosyncrasies of the English language, with the occasional groanworthy pun seeming like a price well worth paying.

  Herald

• Bilston has perfected his comic voice, which brings to mind a bitter man-child with spades of misanthropic charm and a dash of Alan Partridge-esque pedantry. This is a comic novel of the highest order.

  Literary Review

• An original, imaginative and funny book.

  Daily Mirror

• Part murder mystery, mainly great comic novel.

  "What We're Reading", i

• The midlife answer to Adrian Mole? It’s a big comparison to make, in comic novel terms, but Brian Bilston is worthy. In Diary of a Somebody, Brian makes a New Year’s Resolution to write a poem a day for a year. Hilarious results ensue, as well as the disappearance of a poetry (and love) rival. Laugh. Cry. Cringe

  Sunday Telegraph

• Charming, funny and touching.

  First Printing

• Sparkling with wit, intelligence and humanity.

  First Printing